Hold All The Calls - Stewart Phoned Out

The Sports Column

August 17, 1989|By Larry Guest of the Sentinel Staff

Payne Stewart said he celebrated his PGA victory Sunday night at the suburban Chicago residence where he stayed by having pizza and beer delivered. ''Everybody laughed and giggled and talked on the phone all night. I appeared on Good Morning America the next morning with a big hangover,'' he said. What was really loaded, however, was the telephone answering machine when the Stewarts returned to Orlando on Monday afternoon. ''There were about 80 calls on it. I didn't know it held that many. The most special was from David Graham, a good friend, who called saying, 'This is the 1979 PGA champion calling the 1989 PGA champion - collect.' Mark Calcavecchia also called, and I asked him if he was down from winning British Open yet. He said he wasn't, and I told him I just wanted to know how long this feeling would last.'' . . . Since the Europeans won the past two Ryder Cup matches, amazing how U.S. Tour pros suddenly started paying almost as much attention to Ryder points as to Dow-Jones points. The points determined first 10 spots on the U.S. team that will attempt to reclaim the Cup next month in England. Non-playing team captain Raymond Floyd named the two at-large spots and, for my money, blew it by not including popular PGA victim Mike Reid, who led two majors this year into the final few holes. Naming Reid would have been an endearing show of compassion by Floyd and given the U.S. team an exemplary representative abroad. No argument here on Floyd's pick of Tom Watson, but his other choice, Lanny Wadkins, is 50th on this year's money list and a chronic whiner.

When Bob Uecker experienced the first symptoms of his heart attack, he asked his wife to drive him to the hospital. ''She had no idea where the hospital was. She had no idea where any hospital was,'' Uecker said. ''Now, if I needed to go to a mall, no problem.'' . . . When Bob Hope was booked into a suburban Chicago hotel last week to be honored by the PGA, all suites were gone. No prob. Deerfield Hyatt officials knocked out a wall between two regular rooms to create what will remain the Bob Hope Suite. . . . Harris Poll taken this year still shows pro football is America's most popular sport, holding a slight edge over baseball. But college and pro basketball showed greatest gain since Harris respondents were asked four years ago which sports they follow. Of the top 10 choices, only No. 3 college football and No. 8 tennis showed declines. . . . Fortunes of the Atlanta Braves have gone so sour, Manager Russ Nixon's avowed goal: Overtake the Dodgers and finish out of last place. I can see Braves fans now, holding aloft an outspread hand, chanting, ''We're No. 5!'' At least Atlantans will feel experienced if owners combat expected labor impasse next season with substitute minor-league strike teams. . . . Sign on a reducing salon: ''Thinner Sanctum.''

Maybe it's time for pro stars to take the lead of Bernie Kosar, who benched his agent and negotiated his own deal with the Browns this year. Kosar not only avoided a holdout but landed a 6-year, $15 million package believed to be the richest dollar deal in NFL history. ''You read about these things in the classroom, but there's nothing like practical experience. This was good experience for a 25-year-old,'' said Kosar, who has a business degree from Miami. . . . Orlando Magic down to just six of 23 luxury sky boxes left unsold, and movement is seen, but GM Pat Williams concedes season-ticket sales have hit the wall at a little more than 11,600. Club officials have hopes preseason camp activity will produce another wave of buyers before regular-season single-game sales start at 1 p.m. on Oct. 1. Exhibition single-game sales open Sept. 25 at 10 a.m. . . . The Louisville football program makes every promotional and recruiting attempt to ride nearby Churchill Downs' coattail of tradition. As Palm Beach Post thoroughbred columnist John Crittenden notes, the storied track is located 1.1 miles from Coach Howard Schnellenberger's pipe rack and contributes heavily to the personal services contract that lured Howard from Miami. Says Louisville publicist Ron Steiner: ''The NCAA normally doesn't allow tie-ins with pro sports. But up here horse racing isn't thought of as a pro sport - it's an institution.''

MY NEIGHBOR WOLFGANG sez his uncle fell into a lens-grinding machine and made a spectacle of himself.